


The Baby

by khilari



Category: Girl Genius
Genre: Child Neglect, Gen, Kidfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-21
Updated: 2014-06-21
Packaged: 2018-02-05 15:29:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 527
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1823386
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/khilari/pseuds/khilari
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>No one pays much attention to children in the Sturmvoraus household.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Baby

The baby is crying again and Anevka hears the sharp “tch” of exasperation behind her from the nurse as she puts down her _Heterodyne Boys_ novel and heaves herself up. Ten steps across the nursery, a sudden silence as she lifts the baby and he stops crying, a minute while she checks he’s not hungry, dirty or hurt, and then she puts him down indifferently and walks back even as he starts to wail again. Anevka doesn’t look up from playing with her dolls, she knows how this goes. Adults, she finds, will feed you, clothe you and bandage you but they don’t care if you’re lonely or scared. The adult thing to do would be to carry on playing with her dolls, but Anevka’s not an adult yet.

She looks cautiously at the nurse to see that she’s not looking. Anevka’s not sure that going to see the baby is forbidden, but it’s generally better not to be seen doing anything if she doesn’t want to be stopped. She picks up Annette, her newest doll with golden hair and a pink velvet dress, and creeps across the room to the bars of the cradle. It’s a huge, old thing of dark wood, like the cage for some exotic animal. She pushes a hand through the bars, nudging it up against one puffed out cheek. A moment later there’s a fist curled around her finger and she’s being regarded solemnly by huge, dark eyes. She’s never been the subject of so much attention before, even from a baby it’s quite flattering.

‘I wonder if I could get you out of there?’ she whispers. But she can’t. The latches are too high to reach and too heavy and the baby starts whimpering again when she pulls her hand back so she can try. Anevka considers and then, holding Annette in her mouth by the scruff of her velvet dress, scales the sides of the cot. It’s difficult, the bars go straight up and down and there’s no purchase, and then when she reaches the top she has a terrible moment of thinking she’s about to fall right over onto the baby and squish him. But she manages to cling to the edge and sort of slither down beside him, and after a moment of hugging Annette against her to calm down she feels quite proud of herself.

The baby is squinting at her as if he’s trying to puzzle out how she got in here, even though he’s probably too young to be puzzled about anything. Anevka smiles at him. ‘This is Annette,’ she tells him, holding up the doll. ‘She’s a princess from a long way away and I have to rescue her from a monster.’ She thinks about it and then drops the doll on top of him. ‘You can be the monster.’

His eyes go wide and astonished, as if he’s just been given something priceless beyond measure, and tiny hands clutch awkwardly at Annette.

‘…Maybe she doesn’t need rescuing just yet,’ Anevka concedes, settling back against the bars of the cot. ‘Maybe she’ll just stay with the monster if he likes her that much.’


End file.
